Abidance
- Thread starter rabz12
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I'd say " A Law-Abiding ". I'm not sure there is a word as "abidance"
There is a word abidance (and "A law-abiding" would not be suitable, "a" indicates a specific instance of law abiding, and the topic is general). The title "Law Abidance" would be acceptable, I think (I don't see the justification of the hyphen here, though). However, abidance generally collocates with "by" (or to, etc.) and frankly, I think the question form makes a better title.
I haven't found "abidance" neither in Cambridge's Dictionary nor Oxford's. Are you sure there it is? or with this meaning?
What about WordReference Dictionary? Or Merriam-Webster Online:
2 : compliance <abidance by the rules>
2 : compliance <abidance by the rules>
"Law Abidance" sounds odd to me, even though I understand it. "Abidance By The Law" sounds a little better. "Abiding By The Law" sounds a little better than that, at least to me. "Obedience To The Law" is how I would normally expect to see it, or perhaps "Obeying The Law".
I'm not sure what you mean by "whether it is a phenomenon or not".
"Abidance" is not a common word at all in my experience. It does not refer specifically to the law, so "Abidance by the people" doesn't tell us what they are abiding by. "Abide" is also used in religious texts and hymns, such as "Abide With Me". It is an old-fashioned word, to my way of thinking. In some U.S. dialects it is also used to mean "put up with", as in "I can't abide his nonsense." It is not a word I would encounter in everyday conversation or in business documents or correspondence.
I get the impression you think that it is a common word used specifically with the law. That is not my experience at all here in the U.S.
"Abidance" is not a common word at all in my experience. It does not refer specifically to the law, so "Abidance by the people" doesn't tell us what they are abiding by. "Abide" is also used in religious texts and hymns, such as "Abide With Me". It is an old-fashioned word, to my way of thinking. In some U.S. dialects it is also used to mean "put up with", as in "I can't abide his nonsense." It is not a word I would encounter in everyday conversation or in business documents or correspondence.
I get the impression you think that it is a common word used specifically with the law. That is not my experience at all here in the U.S.
Abidance is not a common term, but it exists. It could also mean "the act of dwelling in a place" (There were shepherds abiding in the fields).
"Abide by" is a common collocation. Some dictionaries even have separate entries for it, e.g. from Merriam-Webster: abide by 1 : to conform to <abide by the rules> .
"Abide by" is a common collocation. Some dictionaries even have separate entries for it, e.g. from Merriam-Webster: abide by 1 : to conform to <abide by the rules> .
Using Law Abidance, with or without the hyphen, in a heading is a correct thing to do. It is your subject after all.
The heading has one main function: to capture the reader's interest.
GF..
In your case you may wish to add a question mark?
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Those who cast doubts on the correctness, or indeed existence, of any word should really check before expressing opinions.
The simplest check is to look up the word in a dictionary, for example abidance.
From there, you will see a link to the use of this word in context.
There aren't many examples, which suggests that this word is unusual.
What's more, few of the links are to UK or US sources.
As a generalisation, that suggests that "abidance" exists and is in use, but is seldom used by native speakers.
A quick check with the BNC and COCA confirms this.
On that basis, I would advise against using abidance unless you are certain that your audience will understand and accept it.
BNC - British National Corpus
COCA - Corpus of Contemporary American English
The simplest check is to look up the word in a dictionary, for example abidance.
From there, you will see a link to the use of this word in context.
There aren't many examples, which suggests that this word is unusual.
What's more, few of the links are to UK or US sources.
As a generalisation, that suggests that "abidance" exists and is in use, but is seldom used by native speakers.
A quick check with the BNC and COCA confirms this.
On that basis, I would advise against using abidance unless you are certain that your audience will understand and accept it.
BNC - British National Corpus
COCA - Corpus of Contemporary American English
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